Tag Archive | "animal shelter"

What if the click of a mouse could save animals in Kent County? Recently, the Kent County Animal Shelter (KCAS) submitted an application to compete in the ASPCA/Rachel Ray $100K Challenge and their application was accepted! But they need your help to win the challenge.

In order for them to compete, they need members of the community to vote for them online. Out of more than one hundred shelters that applied, only the top 50 with the most votes will be allowed to compete. Voting runs from April 5- April 16th. Votes can be submitted at www.votetosavelives.org. Encourage your friends and family members to voice their support for KCAS so that we can save more animals! Voting takes less than a minute and you can submit a new vote every day.

The first time you vote, you need to check your email for a confirmation from the website that validates the email address and you have to reply to it. Once this is done the first time, you do not need to repeat for subsequent votes. Also, the same party voting from separate email addresses will not get credit for an extra vote.

The Kent County Animal Shelter says they will be challenged to come up with innovative ways to save at least 300 more dogs and cats within a three-month period (August 1 through October 31) than were saved during the same three months in 2011. A “save” is quantified as an adoption, a transfer, a reclaim, or when an Animal Control Officer returns a stray dog in the field. Prizes range between $5,000 and $125,000.

Everyone wants to be home for the holidays, yet for dozens of animals in Kent County, the holidays will be spent in the animal shelter. Let’s work to change that! After a very successful partnership with Vicky’s Pet Connection in October, the Kent County Animal Shelter is teaming up with VPC again, this time for “Home for the Holidays,” a special adoption event created to help more homeless pets find homes during the month of December.
Starting December 5 and going through December 17, the shelter will be offering adoptions for a discounted rate. Dog adoptions, which usually range from $81 to $180, will only be $50! Cat adoption fees that usually range from $50 to $120, will only be $25. This fee includes, testing, shots, spay and neutering, licensing and even microchipping.
This is an excellent opportunity to find the pet you have been searching for just before the holidays! The shelter can be reached at 616.632.7300; hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 noon. Adoptions must be made one hour before the shelter closes.
Currently, the shelter has a selection of several dozen kittens, cats and dogs, ready for loving homes. Consider making this the best Holiday season possible for these friendly little fur balls and the families that will benefit from the joy of owning a fun loving pet!

National statistics show that as many as eight million animals end up in shelters every year, and only 15-20% of dogs and less than 2% of cats are returned to their owners. One of the ways to increase the chances of finding your lost pet is having it microchipped. Kent County Animal Control takes in 30 animals a day, and many do not have any identifying tags. The Animal Shelter is offering a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to make sure your pet can be identified.
Starting October 1st, Kent County Animal Control will offer walk-in microchips for the public, with just a $20.00 fee. “Our hope is to encourage responsible pet ownership,” says Cathy Raevsky, Administrative Health Officer of the Kent County Health Department.
According to research in an October 2009 ScienceDaily article, “the return-to-owner rate for cats was 20 times higher and for dogs 2 ½ times higher for microchipped pets than were the rates of return for all stray cats and dogs that had entered the shelters.”
We remind anyone with a microchipped pet to make sure their address and phone number is up-to-date, in case the pet goes missing. Also, the Animal Shelter has dozens of pets looking for a good home right now. If you know of someone looking for a furry companion, tell them to come see us!

McKenzie Noga and the supplies she raised for Bellowood dog rescue in the “pay it forward” challenge.

Local dog rescue benefits from 10-year-old’s love of animals

By Judy Reed

It’s amazing what someone can do with $2 in seed money. Just ask Lisa Falcinelli, a fourth-grade teacher at Cedar View.
In conjunction with Martin Luther King Day, Falcinelli gave the 28 children in her class $2 in seed money and challenged them to find something they were passionate about and make a difference, the way King did.
Falcinelli said the children thought both globally and locally. One child collected gently used teddy bears and sent them to children in Haiti, and used the $2 for postage. Another collected supplies for people in the military going overseas. Another shoveled driveways to raise money for a friend in need.

McKenzie Noga and Kim Schreuder of Bellowood Dog Rescue.

“It was amazing to see the things they did,” remarked Falcinelli, “especially McKenzie. The magnitude of what she was able to do with $2 was incredible.”
That student is McKenzie Noga, 10, daughter of Tim and Angie Noga of Cedar Springs. Being an animal lover, she knew she wanted to do something with animals. “We started asking around, and put it out there on Facebook,” explained Tim. “And someone suggested Bellowood. It turns out they are right down the road from us.”
Bellowood, owned by Kim Schreuder, is an organization dedicated to bettering the lives of abandoned, abused, and unwanted dogs from all over the country, with a focus on dogs in our own community. They provide medical care, training, evaluations, and rehabilitation to our canine friends who have suffered and been left homeless.
Knowing this would be a good organization to help, McKenzie began getting donations of food and other pet supplies from people and businesses around the area. And on Sunday, February 6, she and her parents and her teacher delivered $75 worth of supplies to Bellowood.
“It was amazing,” said Schreuder, who was touched by McKenzie’s thoughtfulness, and her initiative. “I’m so tickled by this experience!”
McKenzie was excited, too. “I got to help worm some of the puppies,” she explained. She also hopes to go back to help out.
At the end of the visit, McKenzie gave Schreuder an envelope with the original $2 in it and asked her to pay it forward.
“Bellowood plans to pay it forward in the same way by collecting things for—what better? A cat rescue!” remarked Schreuder. She said they chose Reuben’s Room in Grand Rapids as the one that is most in need.
McKenzie had a word of advice for those who might want to try paying it forward. “Try it once. You can make a difference in the world,” she said.

Kent County Animal Shelter, Grand Rapids, now has help in protecting dogs against canine influenza virus (CIV), a highly contagious disease that spreads easily from dog to dog, especially those in close proximity. The shelter received a grant for the vaccines as part of a Petfinder.com Foundation program to build community immunity against this respiratory infection. The foundation partnered with Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health, a global animal health company and makers of the NOBIVAC(r) Canine Flu H3N8 vaccine, to fund the grant.
Because CIV is relatively new, most dogs have not built up immunity to the disease. Dogs can get the disease by being exposed to those that have it, as well as playing with toys or drinking from bowls used by other dogs. People can also unwittingly spread the germ if they come in contact with infected dogs.
“Shelters and rescue organizations are often the first places that new diseases already in the community become evident. Dogs come in from the community and are released back into it, and often move to and from states with confirmed cases,” said Liz Neuschatz, director of the Petfinder.com Foundation. “Canine flu can be a real problem for shelters, where one sick dog can cause an outbreak through an entire facility. We are pleased to be part of this effort to help protect the community by providing canine flu vaccine to Kent County Animal Shelter.”
Dog flu is a growing problem throughout the U.S. It has been confirmed in 34 states so far, but tracking the disease is hard because it is so difficult to diagnose. Dogs are contagious before they show any symptoms. By the time the dog starts coughing, it’s too late. Virtually all dogs exposed to the virus will become infected, and some will get more serious infections, such as pneumonia, which can be fatal. Dogs that go to doggie daycare, boarding facilities, groomers and shows and are vaccinated for canine cough (Bordetella) are also at risk for canine flu. Information about canine flu is available at www.doginfluenza.com.
The grant for Building Community Immunity seeks to protect all at-risk dogs in the community, including those in close proximity with other dogs, as is the case with shelters and rescue facilities. It also provides greater assurance to adopting families that their new pets will be healthier and much less likely to be sick or get more serious, and sometimes fatal, infections. The grant further links PetFinder.com member shelter and rescue grant recipients with local veterinarians to protect all adoptable dogs in their care. The program promotes veterinary visits for wellness exams and, when appropriate, the second dose administration of Nobivac Canine Flu vaccine.
The Petfinder.com Foundation was created in 2003 to respond to needs of its Petfinder member shelters and rescue groups and to assist them in ensuring that no pet is euthanized for lack of a home. The vaccine grant will help keep dogs healthy and adoptable.